The Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG) has identified five areas for alpha projects to improve cyber security in local government.
Its Local Digital Collaboration Unit (LDCU) said it has begun to submit bids for funding of the work, some of which it plans to carry out within the ministry and some in collaboration with other stakeholders.
This comes three months after it published the results of its pre-discovery project on cyber security in local authorities, which conveyed they are subject to risks from having an incomplete perspective on the issue.
The LDCU said it has been carrying out workshops with councils and stakeholders to select the top five areas for further work. These include the development of a framework of standards and guidance to help achieve a minimum level of cyber health.
Another is the development of cyber roles, with the formalisation of the role of a decision maker for cyber security at executive level within councils. Third is the creation of a professional network for specialists in local authorities and a ‘safe space’ for them to share and learn from each other.
The others are to provide training to foster cyber responsible behaviour in councils, and technical remediation to support councils identified as at risk in the recent survey on malware and ransomware.
“We want to continue our collaboration and research with local authorities in developing the cyber framework and to continue to test our findings and recommendations using a user centred and evidence based approach,” said the LDCU.
Image from GOV.UK, Open Government Licence v3.0
